Assassin's Creed: Whitechapel
by Extremophile6740
Summary: The endless war between Assassin's and Templars has reached 19th century London and the tide will change for the worst as the world's most infamous killer reveals himself. Into this chaos the most unlikely Assassin Stella Nightingale must find her courage and find out just how special she really is.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Lost Child

Date : 13/05/1870

Time : 11;36 pm

Location : London

_We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark_

_ the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light._

_Plato_

The moon was obscured by dark clouds and the streets of London were now obscured by the shadows that coated the city beyond the faint orange glimmer of the gas lamps. This world renowned city had been the stage upon which Templars and Assassins had fought over for centuries. for the uninitiated the Assassins were a collection of well-trained warriors and wise mentors fighting in every shadow across the world for peace and liberty, with blades and bullets. They are often feared and misunderstood but what we do know is they are an influence for hope, "nothing is true, everything is permitted." Templars have a rather contradictory attitude using political power and stolen technology to turn the minds of the world, molding our society under our noses, spreading slavery and prejudice behind our backs. A truly insidious and powerful foe, they have even been known to tamper with the pages of history creating and destroying whole centuries we in the present believe to be true. Hated and feared but in this part of history they all but ruled England, we just didn't know it.

Tonight marked their greatest triumph for within the streets of London the silence was broken by the sound horses' hooves and the heavy daunting footsteps of what could be mistaken for ordinary police officers but were in fact servants of the Templars, one of the Templar grand Masters had formed this secret police force to do the things ordinary enforcers could not be trusted with. The force was now converging on their hideout. The masters of disguise had made their home in a functioning and rather convincing funeral parlour now surrounded by officers pointing guns and setting perimeter.

Smash! The officers cracked to door open and pulled out the defenceless owner, not a true assassin but an ally they had relied on. The guard threw the man to the cold brick path, onlookers to this situation turned away they knew better than to get involve with this. The quivering owner looked up to see a tall slender man wearing a dark suit and jet black overcoat, fine gloves hid his hands, his hair was a cold blonde and azure eyes which glistened slightly as if relishing in the man's fears, the enemy the secret ruler of London.

Near frozen with fear the owner dared utter "Lu… Luka…"

"Speak up." he said in a cold calm voice "Say my name."

"Lukas Nightingale."

Lukas did not reply but strode into the parlour and looked around at the dusty cobweb riddled room, the officers were not far behind dragging the defenceless owner. Lukas then turned back at the poor struggling man. "What is your name?" He said nothing but looked down. "Look at me. LOOK AT ME!" The owner looked up trying to hold himself back. "What is you name."

"Mitchel, Mitchel Crowdour."

Lukas turned his back on him "Mitchel Crowdour. Mitchel you are under arrest. I will give you two options. If you help me, betray your falling 'Assassins' and lead me to their lair I will spare you of all your crime, We will of course keep a more watchful eye on you actions but you can consider yourself a free man."

"And if I don't."

A grin smeared Lukas's face "Need I say. Or did they not tell you what happens to them?" Mitchel remained silent. "They didn't did they. My oh my Mitchel how can you trust these men you so blindly associate yourself with." Lukas peered at the desk searching through the scattered papers "Let me put it this way, death may seem a great relief when it comes to it, under my rule criminals are shown no pity. I lock them away in the dark with no food no water and no light, I often come to them to listen. Oh the things they say. You see when there is no hope people bare their soul and forget all false personalities and they beg, I hear prisoner saying they will do anything, kill, serve, betray all they hold dear." The guard threw Mitchel to the floor. "Now mister Crowdour if you hold to your honour tighter than you clutch your lust to see tomorrow remain silent. If not then tell me how to find the Assassins!"

He could not speak for a moment, the thought of treachery blocked his throat. But lesser fears had destroyed stronger men and he could not subject himself to the hell Lukas had described "Open the black coffin." Lukas smiled at him. An officer mover towards and black coffin in the corner he opened the lid to find no obvious leads to the Assassins "The blue stone at the top." muttered Mitchel. The officer saw the stone and pressed it. There was a sudden creaking and the bookcase aside the coffin slid upon its axis revealing a passageway.

There was an expression of glee on Lukas's face and he reached into his right pocket "Thank you Mr Crowdour for your cooperation." As he turned to show his revolver Mitchell uttered something close to 'stop' but the crack of the bullet silenced the plea.

The secret police stormed the dungeon, the path had lead into the sewers a foul place but secret and undisturbed, just what Assassin's needed. As the secret police force was sent running with guns firing and swords slashing Lukas strode calmly and quietly through the dank halls and wandered into their lair as if the place belonged to him. He glanced across their hall a fire lit stone tomb (not homely), weapons and supplies were piled up against walls, puddles of water coated most of the floor and not but a rotting unorganized desks and decaying files organised the group.

"Disappointing Arthur. Very disappointing." Lukas uttered to himself looking at the mess. Soon the hall was littered with the bodies of Templar officers and Assassin's. But in the darker tunnels there was still life, as the lights and barks of gunfire. Lukas remained in the main hall looking into the chaos. Suddenly out of the gloom arrived the Chief of the secret police.

"Sir we've found him."

"And?"

"He's ordered surrendered."

Lukas looked into the dark tunnel "How many are left."

"Five including him."

Puzzled Lukas strode into the tunnels, Arthur was one of the most feared and notorious Assassin's in London, why would he surrender so easily? The answers drew nearer as a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. The room that he walked into was not something he was anticipating. Lukas was expecting to find such a vicious man in well-lit and inviting quarters or perhaps an armoury where he had ran to for his final stand. What he ran into seemed to be a medical center, beds layout in reasonably neat lines some had bodies in them., various tools and equipment were poorly stacked on tables, blood stains coated nearly every bed and wall. Three Assassins stood disobediently on guard with hidden blades drawn. Behind them two figures huddled together.

"Kill the guardians." Lukas ordered. The Assassins attempted a charge but too fast the bullets pierced their armor. "Mr Arthur James Tyler, at last we meet. And this other trembling wreck must be your wife." Lukas rolled his arm down her trembling face. "Oh don't be nervous." He then reached out and grabbed her hair, pulling her towards him and held his pistol to her head "What are you hiding down here. You wouldn't face me like a true assassin would, so you must be protecting something." Arthur did not speak "Is it her?" he shook his head and the gun fired.

Arthur razed up as his lifeless lover hit the floor "Why did you need to kill her."

"She was no longer of any use beyond proving to you that I don't bluff." he them pointed the gun at Arthur "We will find whatever is down here with you alive or not. So here's what I will suggest, tell me what and where it is and I won't spare you. Refuse and I will let you watch as I deconstruct it and use it to my own ends."

"NO!" Arthur now crying shouted. "Something that precious does not belong in the hands of people like you!" Lukas prepared to fire his gun but suddenly an officer came into the room in a hurry "Master Lukas."

Lukas gritted his teeth at this inappropriate interruption "What is it." he hissed.

" There's something behind this wardrobe. It's part of the structure. I think it's a door."

Lukas smiled "Open it."

The police enforces started hacking away at the wardrobe, Lukas still holding the gun to Arthur's head

"Pull the Red and Purple Book" Arthur had snapped and gave in.

"Thank you." Said Lukas

The officers went into the room finding a nursery, there were children's toys and books scattering the floor and in a cot in the corner of the room wrapped in blankets was the thing most precious to Arthur.

"Sir. It's a baby."

"Bring it to me." The officer handed him over to Lukas who held the child in one arm still pointing the gun at Arthur. He then proceeded to remove the blanket covering the baby's face to discover it wasn't a normal child. The baby had skin as white as the snow and eyes were only a faint blue Lukas was not pleased with the child as it did not stick to his ideal image.

"Guards leave us." He looked again at the child "What is this creature."

"She is my daughter! Not a creature." Said Arthur in fury.

"Really. This thing is pale. Ghostly. I am not so sure such a freakish being could be considered human."

"Such discrimination. I'm not sure that is human. No man is inherently cruel."

Lukas was now fed-up with the conversation and had decided that his opponent deserved a more dreadful punishment than a gunshot from his enemy and conjured up a truly despicable torture. Lukas emptied his pistol of all but one shot and threw the gun to Arthur

"What are you doing!"

Lukas said nothing her then proceed to walk back to the other side of the room away from Arthur and held the now crying baby upside down just over his head "Decide what to do Mr Taylor. Twenty seconds." The final moments of a man's life should not be this harsh but Lukas knew nether mercy or pity and Arthur knew what he meant. He wanted Arthur to ether shoot himself and let his arch nemesis escape with his child or kill Lukas and drop his child and on the concrete floor. Shooting his ultimate enemy meant losing his child as the fall would easily kill her making him responsible as well.

"Ten seconds!" Arthur readied the shot and aimed for Lukas knowing he should sacrifice to do what must be done but he could not pull the trigger. "FIVE! FOUR! THREE!

Arthur could take it no more he held the gun to his own head and uttered only "Goodbye."

Lukas placed the baby on the nearest bed and walked over to his valiant foe his face was now covered in blood. Lukas closed Arthurs still open eyes "May you find the peace in the next world so scarce in this world". He then picked up his pistol and shook it once to rid it of some of the blood, His mind then turned to the child he slowly walked over to the crying infant "Now what to do with you." He would normally honor his word to Arthur and use the child to his own ends but this child was not normal and a pail albino child had no place in his ideology, he loaded his gun and prepared to fire "Good bye deviant." But as the defenceless child cried something happened. Maybe the baby had awoken another side to Lukas or a spell struck his heart. No matter how much he wanted to kill the little deviant, his soul could not harbour the guilt of this child's destruction. And so he made the decision to keep the child and raise it as his own. He placed his pistol in his holster and picked up the baby and whilst holding her in his arms he spoke softly and looked at her father "I think I'll call you Stella, Stella Nightingale. You are going to be a very special child. I will hold my word to your deceased parents to deconstruct you and use you to my own ends. I will make you something your father would most surely be very proud of. Well what does it matter you won't even know it."

**Hello Reader**

**Well that was my first attempt at a fanfiction. Thank you so much for reading this.  
For those wanting to review this story please tell me if you think the T rating is ok. I've put it at T for now but I'm not sure. It may become M rated later when I make final decisions on the contents of later chapters.**

**Hope you enjoyed the story. Have a good day.**

**Disclaimer : I do not own the franchise Assassin's creed, I do own the OC's in this story**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A Family of Nightingales

Date : 31/08/1888

Time : 06:32 am

Location : London

_The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express._

_Francis Bacon_

Much time had passed since that horrible night when Lukas had adopted Stella. Since then she had been raised amongst the Nightingale family in their mansion just outside London. Due to her being albino Lukas feared how the public as well as his fellow Templars would see her. And that was the tip of the iceberg, if just one his Templar associates were to discover the identity of her father his reputation would fall and all his plans and ideology with it. Because of the damage this would give his reputation he hid her away in his mansion never letting her venture outside, giving her everything she needed but not the freedom she needed to grow.

Stella was leaning over top of her balcony overlooking the cityscape obscured slightly by several trees from the garden. She was 18 now, she had long silvery hair which covered her left eye, her eyes themselves retained their faint icy blue colour but she wore dark eyeliner and crimson lipstick in an attempt to give herself some colour. Her skin was as white as the winter snow, she wore a black and purple gothic dress and an amulet bearing the shape of the Templar cross.

She did this every morning getting up especially early to do so, just to look at the world she feared she could never be a part of but so yearned to be. Stella had always been quite comfortable with this life in Nightingale Manor but she knew there was more to life than just sitting in her home with her father's work. This lust for going outside the boundaries of the mansion was not strong enough to overcome her father, not many parent are as strict nor as scary as Lukas was. She still remembered the fear he struck into her the first time she tried to escape. As a five year old, he caught her and beat her with a cane over and over until she could not stand, he told her it was for her own good, to beat the will to escape out of her. The second time he caught her he locked her in his dungeon for a day along with all the prisoners claiming that this was the way the world would treat her is she stepped outside the mansion. Time and time again this would happen and despite the fear Stella knew she would not be able to stop herself from escaping even knowing the danger. Whilst reflecting on her past and present conundrum she heard her door creek open. She spun around and walked back into her bedroom to find her father. Lukas had changed considerably less than Stella in appearance beyond a few new wrinkles and the occasional grey hair, what had changed even less was his personality still as hateful and prejudice. A visit from her father Stella knew spelt ether good news or bad news, it was hard to tell which as he always looks moderately cross.

"Stella my dear what where you doing out there so early in the morning."

She hesitated knowing that an unfavourable answer could set him off and so early in the morning "I was just looking out at the city."

"Ugh. Why? There's no beauty in this city." He moved across the room and closed the doors to the balcony

"Father in the morning its actually looks qu…

"It's a rat's nest plagued with corruption and deviants. Rotting as the infestation of all the wrongs in the world take hold. Assassins, criminals, prostitutes, so many vile beings in one place could not spawn any thing of beauty!" he said though gritted teeth "So dear what do you think it is quite?"

Stella felt her stomach move closer to her mouth "It's quite ugly actually."

Lukas smiled. "Yes. Yes it is. And don't stutter. Right now seeing as your up I thought I might show you your next area of research."

Lukas had kept his promise to use Stella for his own ends whilst keeping her inside the mansion. She had a keen mind and intellect on the borderline of genius and so he put her to use by studying the precursor race. Her research was remarkable. She had studied such artefacts as the Observatory and even the Apple of Eden before it was later reclaimed by the Assassins, She was also one of the few people in all of human history who could read their language, no easy task as their language is always coded, working out their inscriptions involve solving complicated mathematical conundrums. Of course Lukas had all the credit for this as Stella could not be seen or even heard of by his allies.

"This was found in the hands of an Assassin, how it came to be in his possession I don't know. Not that it matters now." He handed her over a cylindrical tube shaped object made of a grey gold metal and covered in golden lights "Put on your gloves first."

"Yes father." She slipped on her black safety gloves and took it from him and looked at it. It felt warm to touch but gave a vibe of tingling energy, it felt special as if it was meant for her.

"Well." Said Lukas "Any thoughts."

"It looks like some sort of container. Perhaps there is information or some kind of secret inside. If we can unlock it."

Lukas gave a half smile "Well. Get to work on it."

"Oh. Yes. Yes father." Stella walked to her study desk on the other side of the room next to her bed.

"And Stella." Lukas said in a serious tone "I don't like you looking out at the city. It lures you into its grasp and takes you off the path and gives you the desire to run away. You have to stay here for your own sake."

"Of course father."

"Thank you my dear. You know I love you very much but I cannot protect you from them. If you were to go outside they could not accept you, society hates those who look different and you are so very very…Abnormal."

A tear came to Stella's eye "I know, I know."

"I realise how hard it must be for you but it is the only way. And you are appreciated and welcome in this house, always." Lukas slowly slithered away and left her to think on his lies. Stella always feared what people would think of her but that thought alone was not enough to make her hold back from escaping.

All morning Stella was confined to her cluttered desk examining the artifact trying to translate its text. In most archaeology the relics have to be dusted and unearthed before their secrets can be revealed but the precursor materials are resistant to decay, dirt and degradation, to uncover their secrets you need only a keen mind and a strong enough will to unlock their puzzles. After near three hours of study she had determined one line

**_Here stands the Key, the answer to their rise and reclamation to the gates to Eden_**

Three hours seems like a lot to translate only this small section but to crack the enigma code protecting the information required hours of work and dedication, she was actually making good time. Time past and she was now getting nowhere in her studies, this was not aided when three o'clock her air head of a sister paid a visit. Amelia was quite near the opposite of Stella. Stella was uncomfortable with her looks (that's not to say she was not beautiful, however she was yet to see beyond her differences), unloved by her parents and incredibly smart. Amelia on the other hand was a looker and knew it, seen as the golden child by both her parents but unfortunately she was thick as shit, not that she would ever admit to it. In truth her mind did not truly matter as her parents were super rich and secretly ruled half the capital, if not for the events of this story she would probably have inherited their empire and had enough riches not to worry about a thing for the rest of her life. In spite of their differences they were very close, close enough that they would believe the lie that they were biologically sisters in spite of obvious distinctions. Contrary to Stella Amelia possessed thick blond hair green eyes and wore only the finest and most colourful clothes, on this particular day she wore a silky pink dress with tulip flowers emblazed upon it.

"Good afternoon Stella." Amelia said in cheerful childish spirit.

Stella turned away from her work "Hello. You know knocking before entering someone else's room has not gone out of fashion."

"Well tough." She skated across the room and peered over her shoulder to look at the artefact "Is that your new assignment." She reached out to touch it but Stella slapped her hand away

"NO! Put the gloves on if you want to touch. Never know how it will react."

Normally Amelia was not foolish enough to compromise her sister's orders on health and safety but the artefact gave a strange vibe and she could not resist "We've never had a problem like that before." Amelia reached out to touch it too fast for Stella to stop her. Touching the object with her bare hands caused a reaction. at first it burned her slightly but the marks soon faded, her hand print remained on the artefact in a gold hue and soon twisting flows of energy burst form the artefact glowing like the sun and siren like squeal filled the room.

"Idiot! Get under the desk." Stella threw it into the middle of the room and hid under the desk with her sister and watched as the light turned fiercer and fiercer. Suddenly the lights calmed down as the holographic image of a sphere appeared. Stella got up from under the desk and looked at his display, the sphere was lined with ribbons and marking each ribbon had the traditional precursor text on it.

"Stella." Amelia said in fear. She did not listen, she tried to touch the hologram and suddenly the image changed to a globe, it the n zoomed in to the UK and then again to London and marked in red a dot appeared in the Whitechapel area.

"It's a map." Said Stella in amazement.

"Turn it off!" Shouted Amelia still crouching over the desk.

"Ok don't yell." Stella took of her gloves and reached down to touch it again only her touch gave her a shock as if 1000 volts had been shot into her, the hologram faded and the siren noise stopped.

Stella lay on the floor half-conscious whilst the imagery from the artefact plagued her mind. Pictures of demons, madness and bloodshed, the artefact had uploaded terrible nightmarish images into her mind. The doors to the room suddenly swung open "What on this good earth was that noise!" Her mother Veronica burst into the room. Veronica was a tall frail woman who looked just as cruel and wicked as she was. Dark brown hair, thin piercing green eyes, blood red lipstick, not a sight for the faint hearted. Unlike Lukas who had become something close to a normal parent toward Stella, Veronica despised the child feeling no connection to her only seeing her as just another deviant and so an enemy. Deviants or deviancy is a term used by Templars. Deviants are those the Templars consider unworthy of living in civilised society and must be destroyed so as not to corrupt the development of mankind. Such deviants include criminals, prostitutes, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, several religious creeds and of course their ancient enemy, the Assassins. When the Nightingale family became the leading family of the Templar machine they demanded that more time and resources were to be spent in annihilating deviants.

"STELLA!" Veronica shouted as Stella came out of her slumber "WAKE UP YOU SILLY GIRL!" Stella quickly stood up as fast as possible "What the hell is going on." Stella said nothing "Tell me!"

Amelia arose from under the table "It was me mother. I interfered with her research and compromised her safety."

Veronica gritted her teeth "Amelia. Leave us." Amelia walked away and Veronica turned back to Stella "Have you no idea child, have you any idea how to be safe. This commotion is your fault I know it, how you convinced your sister to take the blame is beyond me but you are at fault here."

"Mother please Ameli-

"I DON'T CARE! I don't give a shit for your excuses! You should know by now how to be safe around these objects and by not doing so you threaten your sister, your family and this entire household!" Veronica walked to the door in hurry and disgust. "Why do we bother keeping you? Had your father any sense he would throw you in the hole where we throw all the other godless deviants." She slammed the door.

Stella spent the rest of the afternoon on her bead in tears. It had suddenly all hit her. Her mother hating her, her father not loving her and her isolation from the rest of the world it was all too much. She kept looking at her hands trying to curse her own skin thinking she was at fault for all of this. Her sadness was interrupted by four quiet knocks on her bedroom door.

"Stella." It was Amelia

"Go away."

"I'm never going away." Amelia sat beside her weeping sister "I can't leave you. I'm your Sister."

Stella looked up at her "Thank you."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Stella sat beside her "Why can't I be like them. Why can't I be normal and just live a normal life. I hate being this freak stuck up here confined by these walls."

Amelia held her hand "It's not you who's to blame."

"I know I'm a deviant. I deserve to be ashamed, but I'm their daughter and I love them. Why can't they love me back?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Fear the Ripper

Date : 30/08/1888

Time 06:00 pm

Location : London, Nightingale Manor

_While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die._

_Leonardo da Vinci_

Knock Knock Knock. That familiar sound on her door told her what time it was, on some days it was her favourite time of the day.  
"Come in." She said.  
In walked a grey haired thin gentleman in a smart tail coat suit complete with a bow tie and waistcoat. "Suppertime Miss Nightingale."  
Stella jumped of the bed "I've told you Alexander do call me Stella, Miss Nightingale is my sister and Misses Nightingale my mother, just say my name and we shall avoid confusion." She had cheered up slightly. She was still upset with her mother's shouting but the outcome of her research she had been superb and her sister was there to help her through her struggles (even if she was also there to cock everything up).  
"Very well Miss Stella your family is waiting. All except Richard"  
"Ok I'll be down I a second."

Stella wandered down into the dining hall. The wealth of the Nightingales truly shone in this room, the room was gigantic and filled with beautiful paintings, chandeliers, candles and suits of armor. At the table was enough food to feed a family of twenty. Lukas, Veronica and Amelia had already taken their seats leaving only two seats.  
"Evening Everyone."  
Her father and sister looked up, Veronica looked down barely acknowledging her existence. Lukas at least was a little more polite "Good evening my dear. How are you."  
"I'm good thank you Father. Where's Richard?"  
"Your brother feels the need to be with the common rabble rather than his family, god knows why?"  
Stella took her seat and looked at her meal. "Stella, I understand you had something of an Accident during your research."  
Alarmed she looked up at Lukas "Yes."  
"Talk me through it."  
This was not easy she could feel her mother's eyes piercing her skull "I was decoding the language of the artefact when Amelia walked in. She touched it and it showed an image of something, a globe."  
Veronica stood up. "What does it matter. You endangered us you little …  
"Calm you self my dear."  
She sat down again and gave Lukas a scolding look "You show too much mercy to the wretched deviant."  
Lukas was able to hold his inner devil with himself and remain calm "Hardly language for the dinner table and certainly not language to be aimed at your daughter." He looked back at Stella. "Right now that we've all calmed down we can continue with our conversation. Tell me, Stella, tell me more about this image."  
She paused for a minute trying to recall the image "It was a sphere with precursor markings upon it."  
"How interesting."  
The conversation was soon interrupted by Alexander "Excuse me Misses Nightingale."  
"Yes" Replied Veronica  
"The Snatchers are ready and awaiting your presence."  
She stood up and instantly got into a strop "Damn it. Why can't those pseudo kidnappers look after themselves?"  
Lukas stood up as well "I shall see you out."  
The couple left the hall with their butler leaving their daughters in rarely found peace. Veronica put on her coat and strode to the carriage. The Snatchers were surrounding the area. Snatchers were a specialist group of the Templar secret police, as the name suggests they 'snatch' deviants for the Templars to process and condemn to the dark. They wore a black and blue uniform with the Templar cross on their shoulders and left breast. armed with truncheons and a paralysing injection they were more than a match for unsuspecting deviants.  
"Do be careful tonight." Lukas said as Veronica rose into the carriage  
"I will of course."  
"Oh and please do be kinder to Stella."  
She growled "Stella doesn't deserve the kindness I do offer her." She loaded her gun preparing for the night ahead "You are truly deluded if you think you can keep her locked up forever. One day she will escape and when she does she will betray us, she will side with that sceptic blotch of a creed and drive us all to the point of desperation. Father and daughter alike."  
"I am her father now!"  
Veronica placed her dagger in its sheaf "You will see. The apple never falls far from the tree. One day, mark my words you will look at her and find you gaze into the eyes of your enemy." Lukas looked down, he had grown fond of Stella but he could not deny the truth. "Think about that, husband, when I'm gone." She kissed him on the cheek and slammed the door.

Stella and Amelia were busy finishing off their dinners when their big brother walked casually through the doors.  
"Good evening sisters."  
"Good evening." Replied Stella "Where have you been?"  
"That's …  
"Pub." Interrupted Amelia "I bet it's the pub."  
"Hey tha…  
"No no no. Look at his blush. The Chorus girl was it." Said Stella  
"That is none of your business! And yes as it happens I was with the lovely Miss Chorus." Stella and Amelia said nothing to each other but Stella gave a look of pure smugness.  
"So how is Rebecca?" said Amelia  
"She's fine. And how are you two."  
"I'm good." Said Amelia.  
"I'm ok." Said Stella  
Richard gave her a look of slight pity "I hear you got into some trouble today."  
Stella swallowed her mouthful "Who told you."  
"Alexander tells me things."  
"Yes. I was researching this new artefact when Miss I can't leave anything shiny alone" She pointed at Amelia "triggered the object."  
"Oh god." said Richard  
"It gave the image of a map of London then the image of an orb and then it stopped."  
"A map?"  
"A map of London but it pointed to the Whitechapel area."  
"Whitechapel?" Richard looked shaken  
"Yes why?"  
"Mother's going there tonight."  
Stella gave a look of terrible realisation. "Is she?"  
"Yes. I hope you told her about this." Stella remained silent "Oh dear. Well I seriously doubt anything can go wrong." Richard left the room in a slight skip. Amelia looked at the now guilty looking sister. She ran over and held her hand "Don't worry Mother is sensible and in control and accompanied by several dozen Secret police. Even if something does happen she will be fine."

Stella was just about ready for bed but not before she did her final daily ritual. She reached into the second draw of her bureau and found a red leather bound book. Her diary; she did not write in it every day but as often as she could remember. She sat down and started writing.

_Dear Diary_

_It has been a strange few days full of highs, lows and confusion. I am still confined to this room, you may one day have the joy of me writing about the outside world in your later pages, one day. And to be honest It may be soon. I feel it now stronger than ever diary, the feeling that I do not belong here._

_Father and Mother have sadly been very aggressive lately towards me. Especially mother she has been getting slowly worse not just towards me but to father, Alexander, Richard and even Amelia at times. I think she cannot see beyond my pale skin. Maybe I am just another deviant. Maybe I do belong in the dark._

_On a lighter note I am finding my work rather interesting. This artefact father has brought me is riddle bound by an enigma but I feel confident that this may be a remarkable peace. It revealed a map to something within the city, I can only hope It leads to something truly meaningful, that being said the text inscribed on the artefact mentioned reclamation and an Eden. This I find deeply intriguing._

_Why can't I be normal diary? Why was I born like this? I have tried not to let it get to me but I'm now close to the edge and I may drive this family apart because of it. I can only hope to be free of this place and escape. One day I maybe I will leave this life behind. I know it would be hard especially for my sister, I would miss her so much but I fear my place is not here its outside. My deviancy does not belong in a house this fine with a family so fair._

Date : 31/08/1888

Time 02:12 am

Location : London

So early in the morning and it seemed that the Templars prey were elusive. The snatchers had only caught one woman throughout the night. She was held in Veronica's carriage ready for interrogation hands and feet bound and tape over her mouth. She could just see, several drinks and a blow to the head from a snatcher's truncheon had left her rather disorientated. The doors to the carriage opened and Veronica clambered in and took a seat opposite her. The girl was petrified; she looked up at her capture with fear. Veronica said nothing but proceeded to rip the tape from her mouth.  
"Tell me your name little whore." the girl made the mistake of keeping quiet and encouraging Veronica's rage. She reached for her dagger and pierced her shoulder, she squealed in pain. "TELL ME SLUT!"  
"Argh. My name is Mary. Mary Nickolas."  
"So miss Nickolas you have been found guilty of prostitution, deviation from the ideal image and conspiring with the assassins. You are to be considered inhuman and shall be condemned to the dark. But if you give us information that will lead to the capture of the assassin's leader we will endeavour to make your death relatively painless and less tragic."  
"No."  
"Really."  
"I will not."  
Veronica sat back looking rather smug. "So you know something. Well it is a shame for you and most fortunate for me that I can now use more devious methods to make you talk little slut."  
Mary shuddered at the thought of their torture and gave in "Fine I'll tell you about their leader."  
"Good little slut. Tell me!"  
"He's a man. They call him Markus. His last name I don't know. He's a tall rather muscular guy. His body is coated in scars, he has long messy dark brown hair and he wears a peculiar black mask all the time."  
"Stop there!" Veronica sat up in alarm "Tell me about the mask."  
"The mask. It-it covers his mouth, chin and nose and no one has ever seen him without it. Not even the assassins."  
"WHAT ELSE GIRL! Where does he come from? Why does he were the mask? Where is he?"  
"I don't know." Mary was now crying in fear "But he said he would kill someone tonight. A Templar named Veronica."  
Veronica stood up in terror as there was a pounding on the roof.  
"They're here."  
"Who?"  
"The assassins." Suddenly there were screams outside. Veronica looked out of the window to see her guards had been killed with throwing knives. "Stay here slut. Move a muscle and I will kill you." Mary had no choice but to obey. Veronica stepped outside the carriage her gun in one hand and dagger in the other. She pointed her pistol at the roof where she heard the noise but nothing was there. Confused and alarmed she spun round several times looking for any sign of assassins but nothing was there. Suddenly there was a thud behind her she turned around only to feel the pain of a blade to the stomach and see the man she feared wearing the face of vengeance.

Veronica gasped desperately for air as she fell to her knees "You cannot be. You cannot be." She looked up in horror at the assassin, a huge heavily built man bearing a large brown coat, thick black trousers, a pair of heavy duty boot and his infamous mask. "How?"  
"Did you think this day would not come?" He spoke strangely his words were slightly muffled and obscured.  
"How can you be? Nothing could do what you… Veronica desperately tried to breath but she was fading so fast "You could not have done that."  
The man leaned over her as a vulture over a carcass "I escaped and now you shall fall into a darker abyss."  
"You. You bastard. You won't get away." She could cling on no more and faded. The assassin looked at her corpse and uttered "May god show you more mercy than you deserve. Rest in peace."

The assassin turned to the carriage, he opened the doors and found Mary.  
"Please help me. Please" Markus reached for his knife and cut the bindings holding her feet together, he then held out his hand and like a true gentleman helped her out of the carriage. "Thank you."  
"There's no need to thank me." he then looked around "You need to leave. Snatchers are coming."  
"Can I at least know your name."  
The assassin looked at her with a sense of pity "I'm sorry but no. Now run." She sprinted as fast as she could in the opposite direction. The assassin faced the hoard of snatchers attempting to avenge their mistress, he retrieved a pair of kamas (a Japanese weapon that looks somewhat like an ice axe) from the holsters in his belt and made short work of the snatchers looking back to make sure Mary was escaping.

Mary was now several streets away as the rain fell, she was looking for shelter but there was no room available and on the street Snatchers were still plentiful. She looked acrost the street of Buck's Row to find two snatchers were patrolling. In panic she fled down an alleyway and hid behind some bins, it seemed the snatchers had not seen her. She sat down on the floor and gave a sigh of relief to be alone and safe but she soon realised she was not alone. There was a man in the alleyway with her clocked and wearing a top hat, his face was obscured, he made no sound or movement he simply stared at her.  
"Hello." Mary said quietly "Can I help. The figure said and did nothing. She quietly shuffled away unnerved at this man. He then slowly passed towards her, his footsteps made no sound he was like a ghost, he could not take his eyes of the girl. "Please. Please go away. You're scaring me." He towered over the girl. His presence gave a peculiar effect. She could hear things, voices. "Stop it! Stop it!" She stared crying as he knelt down and sniffed her hair. She gave look of terror at the man and he just stared at her and as he lifted up his knife she knew there was no escape.


End file.
